The sed game fired off.

  “What do you think are the odds of an early invade?” Sonya asked.

  “Pretty high, I’d wager,” Cato said. “They surely didn’t pick all these strong early-game csses to py nice.” Especially, not when they have Yuel as the ander.

  “Heh, I say let them e!” Ronald excimed. “Bro and I gonna make quick work of them!”

  “Yes, an invade shouldn’t be a problem on our side,” William asserted. “Elf, Aqua, aro aren’t anything special in the early-game. But, in Top Jungle...”

  “Yeah, we’ll have to watch out, that’s for sure,” Cato said. “Let’s keep some distance from the Wraith Camp and see what our wards catch.”

  And so, the early-game preparations started off. Everybody purchased wards and carefully traversed around the jungle, pg the wards while being careful to not run into any enemies.

  “Keep each other within arm’s read don’t go too deep into eerritory,” Cato instructed. “An early 1v1 is the st thing we want in this game. Especially you, Ronald. No running ahead to pce wards. Stick close to Will so he back you up as needed.”

  “No problem, man!” Ronald promised. “I’mma just go in and then out, a two-sed trip! Ain’t nobody gonna catch me there, just watch.”

  “This guy...” Cato sighed. “Will, you keep an eye on him?”

  “Sure.” William sighed and made sure to follow Ronald from a distance.

  Venturing into eerritory this early in the game was the st thing he wanted as a Seraph, but there was no choice. His younger brother was a total brat, and it’d reflect poorly on William if he fails to keep his sibling in check. What a pain...

  It’s a pain in the ass, but I uand where Ron is ing from. William admitted. It’s important to pce these early-game wards, especially against an early-game p. If we don’t do this just because we’re “scared”, then we’ll be shooting ourselves in the foot in the end. So yeah, I get that much, but I still rather py this safe. Sigh.

  Oher hand, Ronald was 100% vinced of his agenda.

  Cato is just wussing out, man. Ronald shook his head. What do you mean “don’t go into eerritory”? That’s some weak sauce talk. Just because they got a couple of strong-ass csses doesn’t mean we should be shaking in our boots like some scrubs. We gotta be bold and do our thing, with fidence!

  g up just because the enemy was a little “dangerous” was like the mest shit ever. Cato’s wonky-ass leadership was already questio best, but this was a whole new level of me.

  We aren’t supposed to yield like this before the game even started. Ronald insisted. Seriously, when the cap is ag weak like that, it just sends a bad message to the eeam. So, I say, screw that shit! We gotta be bold and show these Stratus bois that we ain’t scared of them! They pick DK or whatever, we gonna trash them even in the early-game! Now THAT’S how ya boost the team’s morale.

  But, Cato wasn’t enough of a man to do any of that, so it to Ronald to be bold here. Therefore, he gonna pce these important early-game wards and nobody will stop him! That was bound to reassure everybody that the Leopards were on top of things as usual.

  Besides, there’s barely even any danger on this side of the jungle. Ronald thought. The DK and Berserker gonna be in Top, so there isn’t anybody dangerous over here. Seriously, Cato is just being paranoid. There ain’t no threats over here-

  “Hello there.” Luke popped from around the er, his bck bde already filled with dark energy. “So, you really came, huh? Looks like Yuel’s guess ot on!”

  SLASH! The Dark Knight swung his bde, firing a bst of darkness right in the oppo’s face!

  “For real!?” Ronald jumped. D-Damn! I gotta dodge this shit!

  He rolled aside immediately. Thanks to his in-born athletic skills, his rea speed was top-notch. The Dodge Roll came out instantly, right as the Dark Knight was slig through the air.

  As, Ronald was just obeat too te. The fierce darkness grazed his shoulder, burning his flesh. And so, 30% of his HP was gone in an instant!

  “Fuuuuuu!” Ronald excimed. Shit, what the flying fuck is the DK doing here!? He should be preparing for the game to start op! I mean, I guess he has a little time to kill before jungle camps spawn, but like, ! Why!?!?!?!!?

  This was definitely an unventional opening. Things weren’t supposed to go like this!

  B-But, it’s okay! I’m okay. Yeah. Ronald took a deep breath and turned around to flee. As long as it’s just the DK, it’s no biggie. I’mma just pce my ward here and-

  ZAP! A ser beam cut through the air and pierced through Ronald’s side.

  “e again!?” Ronald yelled. “The Elf is here too!? H-Ha, haha. G-Guys? It looks like I might be in a little bit of trouble here, haha...”

  This was getting wild. First the Dark Knight, and now the Elf, too!? Sure, it made sense for the Elf to be around here, but ! It’s like the two of them were waitio ambush Ronald or something!

  And, in truth, his guess wasn’t far off the mark. There was indeed somebody on the eeam who anticipated this exact development and deployed the ambushers accly.

  This is a good start. Yuel nodded in satisfa. I figured that if anybody was going to overextend early, then it’d be either Challenger or Winner.

  As experts in defe was natural for the Leopards to be wary of early fights against Stratus’ current lineup. Therefore, they were bound to py it safe during the early-game, going as far as passing on important opportuo pce wards.

  heless, there were two pyers on that defeeam who stood apart from the rest: AbsoluteChallenger and AbsoluteWihose two were the most fident attackers among the Leopards. In fact, they were an oddly aggressive duo that enjoyed pushing forward evehe rest of their team preferred to back away.

  In particur, Challenger came across as a rather adventurous pyer. He seemed like the type who often searched for trouble, like a little kid trying to act cool.

  As such, uhe rest of the Leopards, there was a good ce that either Challenger or Winner will ighe dangers of an early invasion and will py the opening as usual. In other words, they’ll extend deep enough into Bot Jungle in order to pce wards in good positioe the danger. And, that’s where Stratus might be able to ambush them!

  To fully capitalize on su opportunity, Yuel sed pces with Luke for the opening. He headed to Top Jungle in Luke’s stead and hahe warding over there together with Vi.

  And so, that’s how Luke ended up apanying Lars and Kai in Bot. On top of that, Yuel advised them on how to best position themselves in the jungle in case an early overextension happens.

  Therefore, all three of them were eagerly waiting for su overextensireat ambush spots. And, the overextension really happened!

  Not only that, but the puy chose the worst area to waltz into. Out of all the options, Challenger ran straight into the dangerous Dark Knight!

  Now, with Luke in the front and Lars providing backup from behind, AbsoluteChallenger found himself in aremely dangerous situation!

  However, the guy’s response was fast. He immediately turned around and dashed away as if his life depended on it because it really did.

  Challenger must’ve believed that he’d easily get away like this, but things weren’t so simple. Luke and Lars have been eagerly waiting for this moment, so they won’t let their prey get away unscratched. They WILL chase him down and they WILL shave away at his HP bar. Perhaps, they’ll even be able to score a kill here.

  With that determination, Luke and Lars opened a hunt for their juicy prey. They were going to kill that dude, yoooooo!

  DarkestCymore